Heating furnace



Nov. 12, 1929.

w. H. FITCH HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 18, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet I l I I l I I INVENT R ATTORNEY5 W. H. FITCH HEATING FURNACE Nuv. 12, 1929.

Filed Dec. 18. 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Nov. 12, 1929. w. H. FITCH HEATING FURNACE Filed Dec. 18, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet INVEN OR M B i k ATTORNEYf) Nov. 12, 1929. w. H. FITCH HEATING FURNACE Fild Dec. 18, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 mlyli I OR flljz a ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 12, I929 WILLIAM H. FITCH, OF ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA HEATING FURNACE Application filed December 18, 1926. Serial No. 155,594.

This invention relates to furnace installations of he reversing type and is concerned more particularly with an open hearth furnace installation provided with a recuperative device for recovering the heat carried from the furnace chamber by the waste gases, this heat being usedin the device to raise the temperature of the air for combustion supplied to the furnace chamber.

In open hearth furnace operation it has been standard practice heretoforeto recover the Waste heat carried away from the furnace chamber in regenerators, and in some cases for further economy waste heat boilers are used in addition to the regenerators. In many installations waste heat boilers are not used because it is .more economical to generate steam in a steam plant of the mill, but when waste heat boilers are not used, the furnace efficiency falls because the regenerators do not recover all of the heat in the waste gases, and thus there is a considerable heat loss. In some furnaces now in service including only regenerators, these structures are used for preheating both the air and gas and are provided with bricks laid in checker formation which. are alternately raised toa high temperature by the passage of the waste gases from the furnace, and then give up their heat to the air and gas which is supplied for firing the furnace. The checker volume in such regenerators varies in accordance with the rated capacity of the furnace and the weight of the metal tapped. For most economical practice this volume is quite considerable so that when many of the present installations were built a compromise was arrived at between the size of the regenerators and the cost of building them, since heretofore the cost of fuel and labor has been such that maximum furnace efficiency has not been demanded. The amount of floor space which such regenerators occupy is also an important item in the manufacturing cost of the product.

Where fuels of higher calorific value are employed, such as coke oven gas, fuel oil, and the like, the fuel does not require preheating, but the preheating of the air. for combustion is still necessary for economic reasons. In such an installation both the gas and air revolume of the desired extent. Consequently,

the loss of heat in such installations is a serious disadvantage.

The present invention is directed to the provision of a furnace installation in which these difficulties are overcome and in which the recovery of the waste heat in the gases from the furnace is efficiently and economically carried on, so that the cost of furnace operation is materially'reduced. In order to accomplish this object, the installation of the present invention includes in addition to the usual furnace, a pair of regenerators which are insufficient in themselvesto preheat the air for combustion to the desired extent. Associated with these regenerator chambers is a recuperator in which the air for combustion and the hot waste gases are caused to flow in heat transfer relationship. This recuperator is so constructed-that a total heat recovery per unit volume is secured far superior to that obtained in a regenerator of standard checker work construction, so that in this installation the desired effect is obtained in a relatively small floor space, and the cost of building and maintaining the structure is greatly reduced.

In this recuperator, the air and hot gases are caused to flow through passages in which the air and gases are separated by walls through which an effective heat transfer may take place, and the etliciency of the heat recovery is to a considerable extent increased by the use of the regenerators which act not only to absorb heat from the waste gases for return to the incoming air in the usual way, but also to clean or scrub these gases, so that the solid material entrained by the gases is not deposited on the surface of the heat transfer elements in the recuperator with a resultant loss of efliciency.

In the arrangement which I prefer to em= ploy, the furnace is of the reversing type, and is provided with a burner at each end, these burners being used in alternation. At each end of the-furnace is a duct or flue which leads to a regenerator, and these regenerators are connected to one end of the recuperator chamber by ducts. These ducts lead to gas passages in the recuperator and control means in the form of valves are provided, so that the regenerato-rs may be connected in alternation to these gas passages. WVithin the recuperator are also passages for air for combustion, the air flowing through the re.- cuperator in a direction opposite to the direction of gas flow and being then led to the ducts which lead to the regenerators. In the connections between the air passages and the ducts are control means, such as valves, which may be manipulated so that the air passages may be connected to one regenerator while the gas passages are connected to the other. Blower means may be provided for supplying air to the air passages of the recuperator at the end opposite to. that from which the air passes to the recuperators, and at this same end the gases leave the recuperator and pass to a stack. With this arrangement, the air and gases flow through the recuperator always in the same direction, but at one period in the furnace operation when the furnace is being fired from one end, the air flows through the regenerator connected to the firing end of the furnace and the gases flow from the opposite end of'the furnace through the other regenerator to the recuperator. Then, when the direction of firing is reversed, the control devices are manipulated to bring about a reversal of flow of the air and gases with respect to the regenerators.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view partly in section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2 of a furnace installation constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view I on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33. of Fig. 1; Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are sectional views on the lines 44, 5-5, 6.6, and 77, respectively of Fig. 2; Fig.3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a wall in the recupera-to-r, showing the manner in which the heat transfer tubes or elements are mounted in place, and Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a portion of certain of these tubes in section.

Referring now to the drawings, the installation is shown as consisting of a furnace chamber 10 which may be of standard construction and contains a hearth 11 with side walls 12 and arch 13, the structure being supported by means of buck stays 14. A spout 15 is disposed in the front wall of the furna-ce for tapping the metal. At each end of the furnace is provided a burner conventionally illustrated at 16 for the introduction of fuel which may be artificial or natural gas, pulverized coal, or any fuel suitable for the purpose. Adjacent each burner ducts 17, 17 are provided which lead downwardly below the hearth level into a dust chamber 18 and from a point near the top of this dust chamber leads aduct 19 to a regenerator 20.

These regenerators are of standard construction and include checker work 21 of any standard type. At the bottom, each regenerator is connected by a duct 22 to a fine 23 which is divided to form branches 24 and 25. The branch 24 leads to a valve housing 26 provided with a slide 27 carrying a D-valve 28. This slide is provided with a handle 29 and by moving the slide to the position illustrated in Fig. 5, it will be seen that the upper regenerator shown in Fig. 1 is connected throu h the valve to the duct 30 leading to the recuperator housing 31. branch 25 leads to a similar valve housing 32 illustrated in Fig. 4, this housing having a slide 33 carrying a D-valve 34, the slide being provided with a handle 35 and the top of'the housing being connected by an air duct 36 to the recuperator housing 31. By suitably positioning the slide 33 the air duct 36 may be connected to one or the other of the branch ducts 25. and in the illustrated construction, the valve 32 is set so that air from the housing 31 may flow through duct 36, through the,

valve housing, the lower branch 25 (Fig. 1) into ducts 23, 22 and regenerative chamber 20.

The recuperator is a structure made. up of suitable walls whichmay consist of a refractory lining 37 and outer walls 38, between which is an intermediate layer of insulating material 39. This recuperator chamber is sub-divided by walls 401 into a series of chambers 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45, each of which is provided with means of access, such as. a door 46. The first chamber 41 in the series is provided-with an outlet 42 leading to the air duct 36 and this chamber is relatively wide. It serves for inspection and replacement of the heat transfer elements which take the form of tubes- The next chamber 42 is spaced from the chamber 41 and is coin paratively narrow, this chamber providing space for inspection only of the elements. The wide and narrow chambers alternate with each other from one end of the series to the other, and the last chamber'45 is the air inlet chamber into which air may be introduced in any suitable manner, as, for-instance, by means of the power-driven blower 47, the outlet of which is connected to the chamber 45 through a wall thereof.

Between adjacent walls of the chambers 45 and 44 is a bank of heat transfer elements or tubes 48, these tubes providing a means for The.

a flow of air fromchamber to chamber 44. The chamber44 is similarly connected by a second bank of tubes 49 with chamber 43, and a bank of tubes 50 leads from this chamber to the chamber 42. A final bank of tubes 51 connects the chamber 42 with the chamber 41. The several chambers 41 to 45 are spaced apart to provide passages between adjacent walls for the gases from the duct 30, these gases flowing upwardly through the duct-52 between chambers 41 and 42, to the space 53 between the top of the recuperator chamber and the top of the chamber 42. It

. will be observed that the narrow chambers 42 and 44 are of less height than the wide chambers 41, 43, and 45, so that the gases may flow around the tops of chambers 42 and 44 so as to flow past the next successive bank of tubes. The gases from the chamber 53 above the top of chamber 42 flow downwardly in the duct 54 between chambers 42 and 43, entering the'longitudinal duct 55 and flowing in this duct beneath chamber 53 tothe duct 56 between chamber 43 and chamber 44. The gases. then flow through the chamber 57 leading around the end of chamber 44 and downwardly through the duct 58 between chambers 44 and 45 into the flue 59 which extends longitudinally beneath the recuperator to the stack 60, a gate valve 61 being provided in this flue so that the rate of flow may be con trolled.

The banks of tubes 48, 49, 50, and 51 are made up of individual tubes 62, illustrated in Fig. 9, the ends of these tubes extending through defining Walls of adjacent chambers. These Walls may be made of tile 63 of a shape to provide openings for the tubes, and the ends of the tubes may be caulked so as to provide air-tight joints where the tubes pass through the walls. Each tube preferably contains a corebuster 64 which may be made of a refractory rod provided with legs 65' by which the rod is supported within the tube spaced from the walls thereof. The rod occupies the center of the tube, so as to force the air past the walls in a relatively thin film, and these rods may be made up in the form of sections, the center sections being of cylindrical shape, while the end sections have rounded ends 66. The tubes in the banks 51 and 50 with which the gases first come in contact, are preferably made of a refractory material such as carborundum, which may be glazed so as to prevent oxidation. As the gases are reduced in temperature in their passes through the banks of tubes, the temperature diminishes'to a point such that tubes of others materials may in some instances be employed in the last bank or banks of the group. For example, it may be found sat-isfactory in many instances to use ordinary cast iron tubesin the bank 48.

lVith the arrangement illustrated, the furnace is fired from opposite ends in alternation and arrows have been placed on Fig. 1 of the drawings to illustrate the flow of the air and gases when the furnace is fired from the end appearing at the bottom of this figure. The

fuel enters through the burner 16 and air for a checker work and much of the solid material carried off by the bases is deposited, this regenerator chamber having means of access so that the solid material may be removed therefrom when occasion arises. The gases flow from the end of this regenerator through the ducts 20 and 23 to the branch 24, where these gases pass through the valve 26 into the duct 30. From this duct the gases pass upwardly and at right angles to the axes of the tubes in the bank 51, then flow into the chamber 53 around the end of the air chamber 42 and down past the second bank of tubes. The gases are then led to the next bank, past which they flow in an upward direction, and then they pass around the end of the chamber 44 and down through the next bank of tubes to the duct 59, leading to the stack. Y

Air for combustion is supplied by the blower to the air inlet chamber 45 of the recuperator, the air flowing from this chamber through thebank of tubes 48 to the chamber 44. As the gases are somewhat reduced in temperature in their flow through this bank of tubes, the consequence is that the air flowing through the tubes in the bank last encountered by the gases has a less temperature than the air flowing through the tubes first encountered. This would lead to nonuniform conditions in the air but for the fact that air enters the chamber 44 where mixing of the air is permitted, so that uniformity in the temperature is brought about.

From the chamber 44 the air flows through the next bank of tubes in a direction'at right angles to the direction of gas flow to the chamber 43, where further mixing of the air is carried on. The air then flows successively through the tubes 50, the chamber 42, the tubes 51,and chamber 41 to the duct36,whence it is led to the valve housing 32, thence to .the branch '25, ducts 23 and 22, to the regenthat in which the gases are flowing, there is no possibility of short circuiting which would cause a reduction in the heat transfer efliciency of certain parts of the tubes and, furthermore, because of the fact that the heating of the air is brought about in a succession of stages, between which the air is allowed to intermingle, the air leaving the recuperator is of uniform temperature throughout. The use of the regenerators' not only insures that the gases fromv the furnace chamber will be scrubbed so that the solid constituents are largely removed, but also provides a further means of heat recovery. The scrubbing of the gases prevents accumulation of solids on the outsides of the tubes and thus increases the efliciency of the heat transfer in the recuperator.

As previously described, the recuperator includes a succession of wide and narrow air chambers arranged in alternation, each of which has means of access, and the wide chambers have a width somewhat greater than the length of the tubes which connect these chambers to the next narrow chamber. With this construction, the tubes can be periodically inspected when the furnace is shut down, one workman entering the large chamber, which may be termed a replacement chamber, while another enters the narrow chamber which serves for inspection purposes. If a tube has cracked or otherwise become injured, it may be pushed out of position in the walls and into the wide chamber, from which direction the new tube is placed in position. The outside of the tubes may at that time be cleaned when require by the usual soot blower.

I claim:

1. A. furnace installation comprising the combination of a furnace adapted to be fired from opposite ends in alternation, a recuperator arranged for a horizontal flow of air through ducts surrounded by combustion gases, said recuperator being adapted to effect recovery of the greater amount of the heat of waste gases generated during operation of the furnace, regenerator chambers on either side of the recuperator and adapted to effect removal of a large proportion of solid materials suspended in the said waste gases and thereby tending to maintain cleanliness in and prolong the usefulness of the recuperator, ducts connecting the air outlet and the combustion gases inlet of said recuperator to each of the said regenerators, ducts connecting the ends of the regenerators opposite to the aforemen tioned ends with the combustion chamber, settling chambers in the last-mentioned ducts,

cuperator to each of the said chambers, ducts 7 connecting the ends of the said chambers opposite to the aforementioned ends with the combustion chamber, settling chambers in the last-mentioned ducts, and means in said sec-,

end-named ducts for selectively connecting one of the chambers first mentioned to the air outlet end of the recuperator and the other such chamber to the gas inlet end of the recuperator.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM H. FITCH. 

